Page 247 - oliver-twist

bewildered with alarm and apprehension; and figuring
strange objects in the gaunt trees, whose branches waved
grimly to and fro, as if in some fantastic joy at the desola-
tion of the scene.
As they passed Sunbury Church, the clock struck sev-
en. There was a light in the ferry-house window opposite:
which streamed across the road, and threw into more som-
bre shadow a dark yew-tree with graves beneath it. There
was a dull sound of falling water not far off; and the leaves
of the old tree stirred gently in the night wind. It seemed
like quiet music for the repose of the dead.
Sunbury was passed through, and they came again into
the lonely road. Two or three miles more, and the cart
stopped. Sikes alighted, took Oliver by the hand, and they
once again walked on.
They turned into no house at Shepperton, as the weary
boy had expected; but still kept walking on, in mud and
darkness, through gloomy lanes and over cold open wastes,
until they came within sight of the lights of a town at no
great distance. On looking intently forward, Oliver saw that
the water was just below them, and that they were coming
to the foot of a bridge.
Sikes kept straight on, until they were close upon the
bridge; then turned suddenly down a bank upon the left.
‘The water!’ thought Oliver, turning sick with fear. ‘He
has brought me to this lonely place to murder me!’
He was about to throw himself on the ground, and make
one struggle for his young life, when he saw that they stood
before a solitary house: all ruinous and decayed. There was

Oliver Twist